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My September 11th

On September 11th I was in Washington for a panel in Crystal City,
where I was supposed to speak that afternoon about the censorship
threat of the proposed Hague treaty. Before I set out, another
participant phoned me, saying the meeting had been cancelled due to an
attack on the Pentagon nearby. The government had told its workers to
go home, and shut down the subway so they couldn't.

I walked to the EPIC office, and there the real danger dawned on me.
Our freedom was the next target! Bush and the FBI would seize this
excuse to advance their patient plans for surveillance and arbitrary
rule. Marc Rotenbeg and I began writing an op-ed piece, warning
Americans to resist the tendency to attack their own freedom as a
substitute for perpetrators that were out of reach. But no newspaper
would publish it.

Events justified our fears. When our unelected president imprisoned
people without trial, he abolished the most basic of legal rights. A
few judges had the courage to reject this tyranny, but appeals courts
reversed them. Osama bin Laden might wish to destroy America, but
America is too big for him; he cannot do it. Bush may really do it.
Americans, if you love your country, don't be distracted from the
enemy within!

Copyright 2002 Richard Stallman
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